The National Association of Women Business Owners® has taken two steps designed to improve the performance of the federal government's procurement programs in directing federal contracts to women-owned businesses.
NAWBO filed comments on the proposed rules for the long-delayed women-owned small business contracting program that was authorized by Congress in 2000, but has yet to be implemented.
To read the comments,
click here.
And, NAWBO wrote the new SBA Administrator asking him and the SBA to make a renewed commitment, and apply a sense of urgency, to: (i) achievement of the Congressionally mandated 5% federal procurement goal for women-owned small businesses (WOSBs); and (ii) full implementation of the Congressionally authorized restricted competition program for WOSBs before the end of FY06.
"Procurement continues to be one of NAWBO's top advocacy issues for our members," said Carol Kuc, NAWBO's president and president/CEO of Complete Conference Coordinators in Naperville, Ill., in the comments filed on July 17, 2006 on behalf of NAWBO's 8,000 members from across the country. "Our members want and need procurement opportunities with the Federal Government in order to build worldclass businesses," she continued. According to Kuc, "Many of our NAWBO members report that they no longer bother to bid on federal contracts because they find it is a waste of their time."
Kuc pointed out that "[t]here is currently a $5 billion dollar a year difference between the roughly 3% of federal contract dollars that women-owned businesses currently receive and the 5% goal established more than six years ago." And she added, "While the long-delayed 8(m) program discussed in the regulations is a good first step, it certainly is not the only solution for correcting the disparity between the minimal 5% goal and measurable results."
The comments were based on the findings and recommendations of NAWBO's procurement task force. To read the full report,
click here.
